Quoting from page 306 of the Deathwatch manual:

"In a handful of cases, a Watch Commander has actually joined the ranks of the Inquisition, appointing his replacement before he leaves the Watch Fortress."

This is the first time I heard about Astartes becoming Inquisitors: before I thought it never happened. Are there other references to Space Marine Inquisitors? And how would a Space Marine fare as an Inquisitor? After all, a superhuman soldier who spent each waking moment either fighting or training for fighting with almost no contact with the "real humanity" for centuries might not be much suited for the shadowy operations, investigations and political power plays Inquisitors tend to conduct...

No other references to my knowledge.

I think it describes him joining the retinue of an inquisitor rather than becoming one himself. I see it like a Tech-priest in Ascension, they can become powerful agents of the Inquisition but aren't accepted for required training to become full-on Inquisitors themselves.

Inquisitor isn't the only rank in the Inquisition of course. And for another example of Astartes in the Inquisition: Grey Knight Grand Masters are all high ranking members of the Ordos Malleus. Also, fighting and training is far from all what (high ranking) Space Marines do. For example, said Grand Masters also hold responsibility for maintaining the Grey Knight's many alliances. And I'm sure a character like Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines does his fair share of political manuevering.

Nathaniel Garro, a SM from the Death Guard in the Horus Heresy series pretty much becomes the precursor to Inquisitors. He becomes what he calls the "Sigillite's Knight-errant", he bears the seal of the Sigillite which is a stylised "I", and he runs around the galaxy doing Inquisitor-esque tasks for Malcador the Sigillite.

To continue on from s1ay3r, the original proto-Inquisition consisted (I think, my numbers may be off) of about eight Astartes and five humans.

joining the ranks of the Inqusition does not automatic mean becoming an Inquisitor...

Vendettar: so what other ranks exist within the Inquisition that a space marine could fill? Are you suggesting he would join the retinue of an Inquisitor? (i imagine the inquisitor's head would be really, super big with one of those on his team!) Or are there other areas wherein he would contribute? (I'm not overly familiar w/ new gw inquisition material)

Myself, I have no problem imagining that an ex-Watch Commander could become a big I. Essentially, they are already an inquisitor lord in their DW duties, negotiating as equals with the inq lords in their territory...so not a major step to retire from that and become an inquisitor lord...he knows how to command and how to campaign, and how to wage a secret, hopeless war...

Vendettar said:

In the Inquisition, you are either an Inquisitor lackey...ehm, I mean acolyte/interrogator, a powerful advisor or member of some closely related association (probably as a less expendable sort of glorified lackey, like the Ascension Pcs who aren't Inquisitors or maybe Magos...) or an Inquisitor.

Becoming a lack...ehm, acolyte would be silly for a Watch Commander. A kill-marine (joining the retinue of Inquisitors is sort of what they are for, right?), maybe, but not a Watch Commander, several of whom have even served as Chapter Masters (read the Watch Commander entry) and hold equivalent authority.

If you consider "joining the rank of the Inquisition" to include other tasks besides that of inquisitor, such as advisor or member of chamber militant... Duh, that's what the Watch Commander already was in the first place: Watch Commanders do act as close advisors for the ordo xenos, and are part (leaders) of a chamber militant. If you consider "joining the ranks of the inquisition" becoming one of such things, he already "joined the ranks of the Inquisition" the moment he became a Watch Commander (or even the moment he joined the Deathwatch, if you are so generous with the definition of "being part of the Inquisition").

So they must mean that he became an Inquisitor, otherwise it makes little sense

^Except that's not the case in Deathwatch. According to DW background, DW is NOT part of the Inquisition itself, so the WC is NOT already a member of the Inquisition. So it doesn't mean that the WC 'must' become an Inquisitor.

I certainly wouldn't view there as being a place amongst Inquisitors for a marine. There are no other references to such a thing in 'modern' times, and the Marine's oaths would effectively prohibit him from being an Inquisitor to my mind. The WC might have become a personal retainer and advisor to another Inquisitor, or even an Inquisitor Lord, but would not become one himself.

You forgot one rank Zaldrak.

Minion. xD

Siranui said:

Except that it totally is. Each Ordo of the Inquisition has a Chamber Militant, a military organisation it can call upon for operations that require more than a handful of Acolytes or even an Inquisitor. Hereticus get the Adeptus Sororitas, the Sisters of Battles. Malleus get the Grey Knights, the Daemonhunters. And Xenos gets the Deathwatch.

Each Chamber Militant is a partner of the Inquisition, not a servant. Thus Inquisitors must petition for their aid as they feel it is needed.
The quote that started this all could simply have been referring to an Inquisitor Lord or the Ordo Xenos grand council itself, requesting the presence of an Astartes as both a potent warrior and liaison with the Deathwatch. I mean, it's all well and good the Watch Captain sitting in a fortress somewhere waiting for Astropathic communiques to come through before knowing about upcoming missions that the Deathwatch need to take part in, but it's another thing entirely for him to travel to Scintilla and the Tricorn and help organize operations on a grand strategic level.

So in my mind, no an Astartes cannot become an Inquisitor.

Bottom of p305 qualifies the matter a little more. The new Deathwatch background changes established canon in making Deathwatch a much more independent entity, rather than being part of the Inquisition, as they were before publication of the game.

For a real world comparison, let's say the UN decides that it needs a special anti-terrorist contingent. It decides that a team should be founded to work WITH the UN, but independently. They don't even get to share office space, and have their own base somewhere. The team will be made up from guys temporarily seconded from national special forces. So the team itself is not actually part of the UN and doesn't get to use the staff canteen without some wrangling, and the team members most certainly aren't part of the UN, but are still technically part of their national special forces team, and merely on secondment/TDY. A soldier of the Watch is not a card-carrying member of the Inquisition, and has no 'rights' in that organisation, nor rank.

Also, consider that the Jericho reach, or any individual region of space is home to a tiny, tiny fraction of the deathwatch. If every chapter sends 3 marines to the deathwatch (reasonable), that makes 3,000 individual battle brothers to watch the ENTIRE galaxy. It is extremely likely that the larger deathwatch has the ability to draft a watch commander away from his chapter permanently so that he is a member of the Inquisition, rather than the Adeptus Astartes. These watch commanders then manage the internal structure of the deathwatch. In this way, the marine is removed from the order of battle for his chapter and they can replace him.